Nearing the new year

There hasn't been any theater-going since the last blog post (believe that if you will!) but a lot of thinking about and planning for future theater. 2010 is going to be an interesting year, with at least one production of a play I've written happening in October. Lots of planning going on right now about set pieces, music, lighting and such. But there are a few other possibilities floating around, too. We'll see how that goes.

Though they are tentative commitments until July 1, we also have five of the nine roles in "Conversations" cast and feelers out to four other actors regarding the four remaining roles. I continue to be quietly excited that it could all work out with a relatively low level of "drama" instead of just "good" drama.

Slowly but surely, furthermore, I continue to create bits and pieces of a new full-length script that, at least tentatively, is called "Patent." It's going to be set in three small towns in central Iowa in 1858. The opening and part of the closing, as well as a couple of pages of dialogue from somewhere in the middle, have been created already, and I know what happens at the end, even if it has not been written yet. It's far enough along that I have a pretty good feeling it will turn into something.

I don't think there's a whole lot on the play-going front for January, but after that, I can tell it's going to get busy again. And that's a good thing!

And the fun begins!

It has been busy times since I last posted, including a Thanksgiving weekend trip to D.C. (see comments on Woolly Mammoth's "Full Circle" in a moment) and a host of other activities. But equally exciting, the momentum already seems to be building for the "Conversations" production, and thoughts on casting are moving forward at a healthy pace. I'm already starting to feel that exhilarating combination of excitement and dread that will no doubt last through the end of the run next October.

As mentioned, while in D.C., we got over to Woolly Mammoth to see our second production there. Sarah, our new daughter-in-law, works there now, but they also do some fascinating stuff, and "Full Circle" was no exception. For this show, rather than just sit in a seat and watch, the show "moved" to various places around the company's building. The story itself was semi-absurdist and built at first around the fall of the Berlin Wall, then followed the fates of a young woman, an American society lady and others as they tried to protect the baby of the mistress of the former Communist leader of East Berlin.

Did you follow that?

Well, anyway, it was a pretty neat "moving" experience, going from point to point to follow the story. And even if the ending left me a little at loose ends, I thought it was a lot of fun and certainly "out of the box," if you will.

We also saw "Daughters of the Lone Star State" at Theatre Alliance in Winston-Salem. While there were certainly some good performances, I fear this won't make it to my "favorite Del Shores scripts" list. I'm sure it was part of the purpose of the play to expose several women characters as being despicable in their bigotry and snobbish attitudes, but it was a little too close to the truth for me. I've met those women, and I really didn't want to be reminded that they exist. Cheryl Ann Roberts, of course, got to play the alternative opinion, and did a fine job of it, along with Reba Birdsall as the long-standing victim who finally breaks free of these women's offensive treatment.

But you still wanted to wash your hands afterwards, hoping you didn't get any on you.

And then, on Friday night, we took in the latest KLT production, "The Littlest Angel." Again, maybe not going to be my favorite play ever, but I still took away a large smile because the show, as ridiculously difficult the music was for a community theater production, did exactly what I perceive KLT's mission should as often as possible: it brought a lot of young people and other adults, too, onto the stage to perform, in a lot of cases for the first time. So perfect from that standpoint!

Kathy and I saw it especially closely because a young woman we have known for some time as a next-door neighbor and our cat sitter, now age 13, just bubbled all the way home about how much fun she was having and enjoying the chance to perform. Our community theater may not be a lot of things, but it also IS a lot of things -- and this, I believe, is what it should be all about. Yay, KLT!

Not one for the disengaged

If all you're looking for is light entertainment or comedy, I highly recommend you stay clear of David Mamet's play "Oleanna," currently being offered at Triad Stage in Greensboro. It's another of the recent pattern of 90-minute, no-intermission shows (though this one dates back to 1992), with a pair of characters in an escalating confrontation.

If you like your plays with some thinking included, and maybe even some controversy, though, I recommend it. Good set, good lighting, good acting -- and for the first time in Triad Stage history, done in the round. Intriguing and certainly one to raise as many questions as it answers.

OK, it's gonna happen

All the contracts are signed and the first details nailed down, so I can officially say it -- barring catastrophes as yet unseen, we are going to produce the world premiere of my play, "Conversations in a Cafe," at Kernersville's Korner's Folly in October 2010. There's a whole lot of work and planning to do before then, including set pieces, lighting plans, sound and music rights gathering and a whole lot more, but it's exciting to contemplate the very real possibility of it happening. I've got a great director on board, and I hope she can stay there. Two of the roles are pre-cast (so far), and we're gathering names and possibilities to entice to auditions for the remaining seven roles. And a lot of good ideas floating around.

I know it seems early, but the clock is already ticking and time will fly. I just know it. There will be some challenges, no doubt -- but hopefully, a much greater quotient of fun and satisfaction.

Two enjoyable productions

Last Thursday and Friday, we took in two plays that we found very entertaining, in fairly completely different fashions.

First, we were at opening night (and a fundraiser for the Hamlin Scholarship Fund for UNCSA) of a production of "Fences," one of August Wilson's two Pulitzer-Prize-winning plays. Kathy is determined to see all ten of the "Pittsburgh Cycle" that Wilson completed before his death, and she's now counted five of the ten. I have some catch-up to do, but I have seen three of the 10.

The production, as is often the case with UNCSA presentations, was quite good -- an excellent ensemble and an outstanding lead. With some plays, you're ready for the end when it finally rolls around. With others, you're on the edge of your seat and wishing for more. This was one of the latter. Highly recommended!

On Friday night, we took in one of the first community-theatre productions of the full Broadway version of 'RENT' since the show itself closed down in NYC. Theatre Alliance took it on, and did quite an admirable job of representing it (since I've seen it five times previously, including twice on Bwy. and three times with a touring company, I think I'm qualified to judge). Many of the songs, as always, tug at the heartstrings, and nearly all of the performers and singers were up to the task.

If I had one carp -- and I certainly don't blame the operator -- it would be the same complaint that some others had with the touring company: sound. There's so many singers, and important lyrics, and lyrics crossing over other lyrics, that even the best sound set-up would be challenged. It's impossible in a space like T.A.'s to have multiple sound operators and keep all the mikes in proper balance and above the band, but that's really what it takes for a 100% successful production. Sound was good MOST of the time, but sometimes, could not handle it all.

Still, the positives way outweighed the negatives, and I certainly enjoyed my time in the alphabet streets.

About to start up again

There hasn't been much to report on the play front since the end of "Margaret Mitchell," in part because we've been involved in real-life theatrical activities instead of working on or sitting in the theater.

First, our only son, Andy, got married on October 11th, in a delightful outdoor ceremony with the dunes and Atlantic Ocean in the backdrop (just north of Duck, North Carolina), then a reception with the sound and a lovely sunset in the backdrop there. Kathy got to involve herself with the hanging of lighting instruments in the reception tents before the event, and both of us worked on taking them back down on the morning after the wedding. So certainly, given the number of theater-related folks involved (including a fair number of UNCSA graduates), it sort of constituted "theater" of a different kind.

The following Saturday evening, we also attended the wedding of a young woman who was one of my assistants when I worked at Old Salem -- again, a fine time and a pleasing outcome.

In the meantime, there has been at least a little theater process as well. Primarily, I've been trying to figure out if there is an affordable way to produce a version of "Conversations in a Cafe," my first play script, at Korner's Folly next October. Unfortunately, the costs keep going up, but it is still not impossible that it will happen. We'll see how the rest of the negotiations go ....

I've also started both research and a little bit of writing on a new play script, anticipated to be a full-length script. It's at least tentatively called "Patent," and will follow two brothers who are traveling through Kansas selling patent medicines in 1858. When they find out that some of their fake concoctions are actually killing people, one will be deeply upset, one will not -- and there begins the conflict.

We also have four plays to see between this week and next, so we'll be back in the swing of play things before long at all!

And now it's done

The earlier post about "Margaret Mitchell" was optimistic, but not perhaps optimistic enough. The run went very well indeed, with virtually all of the 10 already-scheduled shows selling out (and TRULY we packed them in for the last two shows, over-maxing the Folly's capacity). Then we were able to add one more show, which had a more-than-half audience that included Duke Ernsberger, one of the two authors. What a blast that was! Most of the audience was way into the show that evening and Thursday evening as well. The audiences in general had a good time regardless of the show day or time.

It was a fun experience to work intimately on the show, to learn a whole lot about lighting and programming the KLT small light board, and surviving load-in and load-out in general. Great experience, great fun watching the show, and of course, a few lessons learned.

Now we will forget about plays for a week or so to prepare for our only son's wedding. Exciting!

Some REAL "playing" with plays

There hasn't been much chance to post lately. In addition to cramming in some shows, Kathy and I have been up to our ears preparing, with a lot of others, for the KLT production of "Don't Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell" at historic Korner's Folly. It's a very funny show that we've been tied into for some time. We first saw the show at Barter Theatre and highly recommended the script to the KLT playreading group, which also liked it. We had a need for a Folly show in this time slot, and were fortunate not only that others agreed, but we tied down the rights to the show quickly enough to be able to host the North Carolina premiere of the comedy. Neat stuff for KLT!

Then, when it finally came along in time, Kathy volunteered to stage manage -- and eventually we worked together to create the lighting design, and I am operating the board for most of the shows. Last night was the by-invitation preview, a nearly full house -- and by the audience's response, they "got" the show just fine. After all the rehearsal and programming and tech issues, it was a blast to hear people laughing out loud.

Tonight's the opening night, and we already have three of the 10 shows sold out. Seems like the right show at the right time (we all need a laugh!), and having a state premiere is pretty cool, too!

In the (little bit of) spare time during the past few weeks, we also managed to catch "The Great American Trailer Park Musical" at Theatre Alliance -- definitely a hoot and a half, or maybe even three-quarters -- and a thoroughly pleasing production of "Picnic" at Triad Stage. We won't see much OTHER theater before mid-October, but I would guess that we will know most of the lines from "... Margaret Mitchell" by October 4th when it closes!

Visited an icon

In recent years, especially, Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago has increased its recognition value and rep for quality -- the production of "August: Osage County" that moved to New York, then London, now elsewhere, being a good example.

I traveled for a couple of days to Chicago earlier this week and, though there was not a great deal of theatre being offered in mid-August, I was lucky enough that "Up" was being presented on the main stage at Steppenwolf, and a good friend from college who works there during the week could accompany me.

Interesting story, good set/effects, fine lighting, very nice acting indeed (including in the lead male role the actor who originated the role of "Little Charles" in "August: Osage County," under the same director who handled "August") -- quite a nice night in the theater indeed. But for me, a fan back to his days in the movie "Manhunter," followed by those nine years as Gil Grissom in "CSI," it was a great pleasure to sit a few rows up the aisle from William Petersen, now an ensemble member at Steppenwolf. A very nice added spice to being at the theatre in the first place.

Packin' 'em in

It's safe to say that, though now there is something of a lull, we've been continuing a rapid pace of live performances here into August.

After two shows on one weekend in mid-July, we then caught "Dead Man's Cell Phone," Paper Lantern Theatre's first production in Winston-Salem, on a Thursday night. It was a chiefly pleasing script and well-done by the performers -- certainly a production that suggests we should keep our eyes on Paper Lantern!

On the weekend following that performance, we also caught our first live rock concert in a while -- Kenny Loggins and his band, performing at App State in Boone. It was a warmish wait to get into the space, but quite a fun night of good songs and memories. It also wasn't a long trip home, since we were staying in Fleetwood.

We followed Kenny with a play called "Dead City," performed by Rorschach Theatre on the Georgetown University campus in D.C. As is often the case with shows we see in D.C., the lighting designer was our son, Andy. It was a show full of ideas, and most of them paid off pretty well.

The very next evening, we had a fun experience in seeing the live Paul McCartney concert at FedEx Field in Landover, MD. Again, a pretty hot/damp experience getting to and from the stadium by way of the Metro, but the concert itself was again a wonderful sing-along night of nostalgia. For us old folks. And to be polite, they had just about every current theatrical/stage lighting toy you could think of, and they sure used 'em. "Flash and trash," as Andy and his lighting friends and gurus call it. But kind of fun, too!

Most recently, on a Friday evening during the 2009 version of the National Black Theatre Festival, which is held nearby in Winston-Salem, we saw the thought-provoking "Halley's Comet," a one-man show powerfully and pleasingly performed by John Amos. Wow. A fine theatrical experience. I will never understand why, in the so-called City of the Arts, so many white folks who attend other theater tend to skip nearly all NBTF events. It's been that way as long as we've been attending shows during this every-two-years event. Sad. But true.

But now, two actual full weeks off without a show that I know of anyway, while I continue the wait on three different play submissions that are SUPPOSED to be decided by the end of this month. We'll see if that actually happens.

On the local/regional scene

Close on the heels of returning from CATF, Kathy and I took off for a jaunt to Greenville, SC, to catch The Distracted Globe's production of "Beyond Therapy" by Christopher Durang. We'd never seen the show, or enough Durang period, and former Kernersvillian Kelly Wallace was one of the stars in a fine cast all the way around. It was a nice space and a good production, we felt, and given that all of the characters are chiefly nuts, it was a lot of fun to watch, too. Though I don't highly recommend trying to escape from downtown Greenville on a Saturday night if you only know how to leave using Main Street. Their great success in revitalizing downtown has turned into a traffic mess -- so a qualified success, I would say as an outsider.

From Greenville, we hustled back to Kernersville, and then over to Greensboro and Open Space to take in Richard Dresser's "Rounding Third." I had heard of this show some BEFORE we knew Open Space was doing it, and then -- serendipity -- I saw a poster for it (and for a couple of other Richard Dresser plays) as having been done in 2004 at CATF.

In any case, our friend Ken Ashford was one of the two actors in this show, which was painfully funny for anyone who had ever encountered Little League in any form. Ken and fellow actor Scott Stevens did a great job, and the story line turned out to be a little deeper than I had anticipated at first. An enjoyable afternoon at the theater!

And now, four days without a play to attend. How will I survive?

Contemporary is chiefly all right with me

Midweek, I began my current play-going marathon by heading 5.5 hours northwards to the small town of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. It's way on the eastern edge of the state, one of the collection of old towns in that area such as Harpers Ferry, Martinsburg and only four miles from Shepherdstown but in Maryland, Sharpsburg, near which the tragic Antietam battle was fought during the Civil War.

At Shepherd University, each summer since 1991, the Contemporary American Theater Festival has brought new plays to production on the stages here -- this year, there were five, performed in three different venues. A close friend of ours is the business manager at CATF, which is how I learned of it. In addition to some excellent genealogical research in that area, I was lucky enough to see three of those five shows.

The first show was called "Farrugut North" and, apparently, has already been optioned for a potential movie with George Clooney. The stage version was quite well done, with a chiefly representational set to tell the story of a young campaigner working the presidential campaign in Iowa, dirty tricks, dirty mouths and ultimate disillusionment (and more dirty tricks). Anyone who was paying attention was unlikely to walk away without a deeper cynicism towards the American political process.

The second show was "Fifty Words," referring to the idea that there are probably fifty different words that can be used to reflect "love." The show, which was a bit on the long side for a no-intermission production, was quite well acted by two people, and dissected, almost literally, a marriage in trouble. Thought this is apparently OK or even desirable for this particular contemporary theater festival, this play and the next ended with a fairly ambiguous closing. It's not my favorite thing, but still, I can't take too many points off given the other strengths of this show.

Finally, I saw "Yankee Tavern," the latest completed script by prolific playwright Steven Dietz, whose "Trust" I saw produced in 2006 at Spoleto. This one had a great realistic set of an old-fashioned (and fading) bar and delved into conspiracy theories in the aftermath of 9-11, and some interesting characters. Once again, the ending left some questions which I suspect we were meant to fill in for ourselves. If you really wanted to.

All in all, it was an interesting and entertaining few hours in the theaters up in West Virginia. I'm definitely glad I went.

Short plays can be fun

We've just returned from a long road trip which, while not overwhelmed with playgoing, did include two of the three ten-minute play flights at the Source Festival in Washington, D.C. We caught all three flights (25 plays) last year, but only scheduled two flights (12 of 18 plays offered this year) for this visit due to other obligations. In addition to catching up with family present and future and some good eating, we once again enjoyed most if not all of the offerings. Source solicits scripts from around the world. They got 700 in the first year and 500 for this year's presentation, so you can imagine that they get to pick the best of the best.

They also mine from a great crop of actors each year, and each show gets its own DC-area freelance director. Some are very funny; some are quirky or weird; and several are quite intense, too -- such as one about a young female recruit in the Airborne whose parachute fouls and we learn about her as she falls towards her likely death. As it was last year, a good and inspirational experience.

We have more theater coming up, but I will report on that as it happens.

I also managed to wrap up a ten-minute script called "Progress," and have moved that along to a possible outlet. Meanwhile, on virtually all of the other scripts, I wait.

On the play trail, again

We've been keeping up our theater-going escapades lately, with three very different shows in three very different venues but each of them chiefly light-hearted and good for a chuckle.

We started by taking in the opening night of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown," the musical, performed quite ably by six young actors on the Kernersville Elementary School stage. Kernersville Little Theatre normally does a musical in June each year, and this was one of the best I have seen (and we've seen most of them since 1990 or so). The show used only one keyboard (on-stage) and the six performers in great costumes to represent their respective "Peanuts" comic strip characters. It was a lot of fun to watch, and pretty much glitch-less on the technical side as well.

The very next night we were off to sit in "our seats" at Triad Stage in Greensboro, for their updated and shortened version of Moliere's "Tartuffe." It was not a show or story I was familiar with, but the tale of hypocrisy and fraud in the name of religion certainly had its moments. I found it to be just a slight bit over-the-top in some of the posturing, with the understanding that it was, after all, period comedy updated. All in all, still an entertaining stop in the theater.

Finally, we caught Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance's very fun second run of Del Shores' "Sordid Lives," which included fave area actors Cheryl Roberts and Ken Ashford along with others in the long-and-narrow theater space the Alliance now uses. We also caught up with Mikey Wiseman, who was helping backstage, in town from his extended run in Fort Myers with "Church Basement Ladies." He's about to go back out, on tour this time, as the understudy to William Christopher (who played the Chaplain in the TV version of "M*A*S*H"). Busy man!

Meanwhile, I came back from Spoleto with an idea for a 10-minute script, and I'm getting closer to finalizing that one. Another script is on its way to yet another competition, so at least the playwriting is not entirely moribund.

Soon, we're off to see 12 different ten minute plays being done, so more about that soon.

Wrapping up this year's Spoleto

The rest of our slightly shorter visit to Spoleto this year had the stronger offerings, in our opinion. We enjoyed The Reckoning, a Chicago-based long-form improv group, in their show at Theatre 99, one of our usual stops for Piccolo Spoleto events.

We also took in "Don John," at the Memminger (a recently renovated space where Andy worked the last several years, this year as Master Electrician). This was presented by the Kneehigh Theatre group from Cornwall (England). They were at Spoleto three years ago, doing an astonishingly entertaining telling of the "Tristan and Iseult" tale (which is set in Cornwall and Ireland). This play was an updated interpretation of the Don Juan/Don Giovanni story, set (sort of) in a carnival. The set ideas, lighting and sound were all fascinating, and so was most of the play -- though I have to compare, and "Tristan" wins for overall achievement. Nevertheless, these people are chock-full of ideas, even if some of them don't always hit home.

Our final show before taking off for home was a one-man (well, there was also a musician who pitched in now and then) presentation by a gent from Wales, which chiefly reflected on his experience when his father passed away, and connected (in the theme of death) to a time when he "babysat" a rabbit for neighbors -- and the rabbit promptly passed away. Though a reviewer for the main newspaper in Charleston ripped it apart, I felt it certainly had its moments and some effective times. Maybe not the greatest thing ever, but good. If only the family with the three year old hadn't crazily decided this was something they should do together ....

Anyway, as always, some interesting times and experiences at a great Festival.

From Charleston and Spoleto

And now, from current-time, Kathy and I are on our annual (sixth year, I believe) marathon visit to the always-interesting Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto festival events in the charming town of Charleston, S.C. We usually try to cram in as much as we can during a weekend, almost always Memorial Day weekend, and this year is no exception.

We drove into town on Saturday, checked into the hotel, and immediately left for Mount Pleasant and a production about the musical life of Bobby Darin. There was much to be liked about the production, especially the singing/interpretation of the lead actor (playing Bobby) and the great band they seem to be able to assemble at the Village Playhouse for these events (not our first time there). However, being what we are, we spent the drive back into town dissecting what we would change about the show if WE were doing it. There were only two actors on stage, and "Bobby" also ended up telling a lot of the biography. We'd have put a third actor on stage and just let Bobby be Bobby throughout. And a few other nitpicky things. But when the music was cooking, this was a lot of fun to watch.

We returned and quickly went off to our next show, a production of "La Cage aux Folles." It had its moments. Just not enough. A few of the voices/actors left something to be desired, and they should have hired a choreographer. (Now, there might have BEEN a choreographer, mind you, but they should have hired someone else.) Not very comfortable seats, either, so that made it a bit painful.

We then had our outdoor Jazz performance pushed indoors, and an hour-plus later, by rain. By that time, for better or for worse, we were in a restaurant drinking good wines and eating delicious Italian. We did not make it to the rescheduled jazz show. Ah, well. We had fun anyway (and the rain stopped until about 3 a.m., of course.)

More to come!

Update on my own plays

I'll do a quick update on the plays I have written so far, chiefly to the effect that the only news hasn't been positive news, but at least I know ....

One play was submitted for the N.C. New Play Festival, which selects only one play. Mine wasn't it. One play was submitted to an artistic director known by a friend of ours, who might or might not be producing some plays at his center this year; he chose to determine he was not interested. One ten-minute play I wrote and submitted to the Source Festival -- one of some 500-plus that were entered -- was not chosen for the final 18. And one ten-minute play written to a specific theme for an event called the "Seven" (this time, 418 competitors) did not make the Top 22 from which the seven finalists were chosen.

That hasn't stopped finding new or revised places to try to place the play scripts, and there are several other "maybes" that will be answered one way or another by September or so. But for now, no definite productions brewing. Just so you know ....

Catching up

Not least because we've been seeing a lot of plays, I haven't had much time for catching up and reporting on the ones we HAVE seen. So I'll try to do some of that today.

Since returning from the Big Apple and Memorial Day weekend, we caught three different plays in our own back yard. First was "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a place we return to often when we get the chance. There is almost always something interesting on stage at UNCSA, especially during the late fall, February-early March, or late April - into May, the times when productions are ready to be staged within the school's calendar year. Although tough times for everyone caused some budget cutbacks this year, there were no disappointments with this production or the earlier Timberlake Wertenbaker play we saw on campus. It continues to be surprising to me that low-cost, high-quality shows on this school's stages continue to be under-attended by the area community.

The very next night we were off to catch N.C. Black Rep's production of "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope," which had some dazzling talents on stage for a relatively short run at the Arts Council Theatre. A lot of energy, chiefly well presented, though like other shows of this sort, sometimes the disconnected stories can be a little disjointed as well, for me, anyway. It was time very well spent in any case.

Last but not least in our local show-going was "The Blonde, the Brunette, and the Vengeful Redhead," a one-woman show at Triad Stage that I thought quite impressive for the range of characters, male and female, that the actress presented. The show was interesting too, though perhaps more interesting to me than to Kathy (maybe it had been too long a day for her). Set, lighting and sound, as usual for a Triad Stage production, were very well done, and generally speaking, it was a pleasant and rewarding evening of theater.

New York City, Part Two

We wrapped up our visit to NYC and Broadway with three more plays, all interesting or at least worth seeing to one extent or another.

First, Kathy returned with TKTS tickets to "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," one of August Wilson's ten plays from the cycle set in Pittsburgh's Hill District. It was quite well acted, and generally very interesting, but at the end it got all kind of metaphysical/ theological/mystical on us, and I lost track of it. I'm sure it meant something to some of the members of the audience. Not so for me.

We had the added bonus here of sitting next to a couple who, it turned out, were from Winston-Salem, and he had been the head of the theater department at Wake Forest for over 30 years, prior to retiring about a decade back. Delightful conversation during the breaks!

On Saturday, we took in "Exit the King" (Eugene Ionesco) and wrapped with "The 39 Steps." Ionesco was perhaps a little too deep for the likes of me, though the performances, esp. Geoffrey Rush as the 400-year-old king who was on his way out from his collapsing kingdom, were worthy. "39 Steps" was just pure fun -- very clever staging and use of only four actors to presesnt a complete story based on the Hitchcock movie of the same name. It had at least one of those scenes where a character is juggling three hats and passing them around from his head to portray three different people in the same space of time. For entertainment that doesn't really require a lot of thinking but you can be charmed by the cleverness, I recommend it!

Then it was back home to Kernersville, though we did get to see and share some of the LaGuardia space with musician Bruce Hornsby, one of our favorites -- just happened to notice him coming through security right behind us, then waiting for the flight to Richmond, Va. adjacent to where we waited for ours to Greensboro.

Great trip all the way around!

New York City, Part One

My wife, Kathy, and I are partway through a five-show visit to Broadway, along with a few other chores and undertakings.

We started Wednesday night by visiting the TKTS booth and, after dropping a couple of possibles as they only had "partial view" seats for them, we picked up two decent seats for Neil LaBute's "reasons to be pretty." I had heard his name many times before, but never saw one of his shows, which apparently chiefly run off-Broadway until this one. We found the show to be quite interesting, and it included a neat set, good lighting and sound, and some good acting, too, particularly the lead actor. It certainly held our interest, no matter how off-putting some of the characters were, or how challenging it was to believe some of the aspects of the relationship between the four characters visible in the show.

As for me, trying hard not to be a throwback of any kind, I still found it difficult to believe that the use of words not really acceptable in mid-range society to the extreme that they appeared in the script was necessary, or didn't even detract from the storyline after a while. I for one do NOT object to the use of selected curse words from time to time, used for emphasis and/or charactor development. But this show, I believe, could have used 10-20% as many selected words, and still have gotten the intended point across just fine. Though it would have shortened the show measurably ....

Last night, we saw "Jersey Boys," another one of those top-hits review shows but with a difference, in that it delved into the interesting and sometimes challenging real lives of the group's members, and wove the songs into the real stories being told about them. For me, that worked so much better than "Mamma Mia" or "Back to the Eighties" or others of this ilk. And the musicianship, stage technology, etc. were top notch.

Now, I'm waiting to see what Kathy finds for us at TKTS for tonight. We already have our "Exit the King" (Ionesco) and "The 39 Steps" tickets for tomorrow (Saturday.)

Serious and silly

Two more plays were recently viewed, at a pretty wide divergence in terms of message and seriousness. We first saw "Our Country's Good," by playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, chiefly performed by seniors of the UNCSA drama department, on the Performance Place Thrust Theatre stage.

We had earlier seen "After Darwin" by this same playwright, up in D.C., so thought this one might be good, too. And it was -- primarily about the "transportation" by the British of people dubbed criminals, in the late 1700s, to the Australia colony. A great deal of conflict between some of the soldiers, who were unhappy with their assignment and treated the convicts as somewhat less than human, and the governor and one soldier who saw opportunities for raising some of these people up through the power of art and theater. After a fair amount of agony, an ultimately uplifting message and moment of theatrical joy.

It seemed a little bit long to me, but I don't think that's a fault of the production, actors, directors or anything else than the fact that nearly everything I have seen lately has been a 90-to-95 minute, no intermission show. Thus, when an intermission show that runs about 2.5 hours comes along, it SEEMS long but of course, it is not. It's just normal.

The next night, we took in "Back to the 80's," a musical, so to speak, at Theatre Alliance. It bore something of a resemblance to "Mamma Mia" in that it took existing and chiefly well-known songs and tried to tie a story of high school romance around them. Which was partly successful, for me, anyway. Unfortunately, with a couple of outstanding exceptions, TA didn't manage to locate the kinds of voices that could carry that sort of music off. It was fun and upbeat, but a little hard to listen to.

From the D.C. market

Kathy and I have been spending a few days in Washington, D.C. It's Easter weekend, so there were not a whole lot of theatrical offerings floating around a normally very busy theater town, but we managed to catch two shows while waiting for tonight's heavily-theatrical event, the annual Helen Hayes Awards. Son Andy is nominated for one of his lighting designs (the Catalyst Theater Company's production of "1984" last year), so we are attending. That should be quite an experience.

Meanwhile, along with Kathy's college roommate and friend Lissa, we took in Arena Stage's production of "Crowns" at the Lincoln Theatre on Saturday night -- a very entertaining evening of music, performance and costume (especially, of course, hats). Michael Cunningham, the photographer who, with a writer, created the book on which the play is based, at that time anyway was Winston-Salem based. I'm sure many of the interviews that provided text for the show were done in our area back in N.C., so a few of the references probably meant more to Kathy and me than to many others in the audience.

Then last night, we saw our first show at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. It was also quite a good production and fine acting, though there were a few moments that I would have picked a bone, critically speaking, with the playwright or the director, depending on who was responsible. "Antebellum," however, was chiefly thought-provoking and intriguing, and it certainly held our attention, which you cannot always say.

We continue to enjoy the heavy playgoing spring!

A few playgoing reports

We've been able to get out and catch a few plays recently, and have quite a few on our upcoming list as well. So here's a report on the most recent ones.

One of our favorite weekend run-aways is to head to the charming southwestern Virginia town of Abingdon, and the two stages of Barter Theatre. We selected the one weekend on which we could catch the three shows we wanted to see - only to discover that it was also the weekend of the Bristol NASCAR races. Ouch. The hotel we normally use was about three times the usual nightly rate, but being stubborn, we went anyway. It was a lot of fun. We saw "Four Places" in Barter Two on Friday night and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" on Saturday afternoon on the main stage -- both excellent productions, for completely different reasons. Finally, we saw "Adjoining Trances" at Barter Two Saturday night, which (chiefly because of the play) was the weak link of the trip.

We followed that with a shortened adaptation of "Ghosts" by Henrik Ibsen at Triad Stage. As usual, good acting, good set, good lights, good sound ... but just not destined to be one of my favorite plays.

But the interesting continuing trend noted in these four plays -- every one of them except "Joseph" was a 90-minute (or nearly so) no-intermission show. There's been enough of that lately to really believe it IS a trend.

"Dearly Beloved" - just a whole lot of fun!

I've been a little slack in getting on the blog and writing up Kernersville Little Theatre's production of "Dearly Beloved," most decidedly a "Southern comedy" that may not play well in certain parts of the country but sure enough played well last Friday and Saturday nights in Kernersville. We found it a fine production, with a strong cast that had no weak links in our opinion (and believe me, that is not always the case). The set was a good one, and I had no problem hearing anyone (also not always the case with shows, not just KLT's). It was fun to see Myla O'Brien back on stage after a long gap -- and I thought she was having fun with her role, which seemed a good way to get her "stage legs" back.

The leads were fun to watch, too, and good character work by several folks I had not seen on the KLT stage before. Several folks who had had smaller roles here or elsewhere in the past, too, handled a step up quite well. Kudos, KLT and cast and crew and all!!

Now we have a little time off from plays -- but before long, a three-play weekend at Barter Theatre, "Ghosts" at Triad Stage, plays and the Helen Hayes Awards event in D.C. and an April long weekend in the Big Apple. Whee!!

On the Play-Going Trail

'Tis the season for going to see more plays. OK, it's true, it's nearly always that season for us, but speed is picking up again, it seems.

Last night, we took in GTCC's production of "Under Milk Wood," Dylan Thomas' poetry-driven view of life in a small Welsh town. We enjoyed the myriad characters, sound effects and vision of the multiple characters making up the town. Kathy had performed in it back in high school days, and it also happened that Lori Koenig, who will direct KLT's "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown," starting in April, directed this performance. Good job, we thought!

And in the category of confessions to be made, as I always do when there are young people ages 18-30 in something, I sat there with my program making notes on the performances I like. Since the day I finished writing "Conversations in a Cafe," I have watched particularly for the part I figure might be the hardest to fill in the play -- a young woman 20-25 to play "Meredith." My file folder is filling up with programs that have notes on them such as "She could be Meredith!" or "He could be Brad or Josh!" I saw two potential Merediths and one potential Brad in this show. Distracting? Yes, a little bit, but I enjoy it.

Tonight we'll see "Dearly Beloved" at KLT, then we have tickets for "Ghosts" at Triad Stage, shows at Barter Theatre, and just found out yesterday that we'll manage a NYC trip in April and perhaps cram in five Bwy. shows while we're there. Wonderful!!!

New stuff, old stuff

I'm nearing the end of my annual writer's retreat to the Outer Banks of N.C., which is really just using a timeshare we bought years back and have been unable to unload on today's incredibly wonderful and active real estate market. But it does allow me a little time to unload, upload and clear the brain, which usually results in at least a little bit of meaningful writing.

I started the week off by deciding to take some thoughts that had been kicking around in my head and, rather than putting them into a new script I had just started, I went back and fit them into "All About Faith," which of course I had thought was finished. I think the new page of dialogue towards the end of scene three, however, improves the set-up for scene four and some "explanation" of my thinking in general, and helping the audience even a little bit is in my opinion a good idea.

And then because of one three-second panning shot in something I was watching, I started writing something altogether new as a potential new play script, and have added to it since. Why? who knows? Creativity is funny. We'll just have to see if it continues to go somewhere.

And as for the other scripts already finished? The waiting, dad blast it, continues.

And the nominees are ...

I have no doubt made mention of my son, Andy (www.andrewcissna.com), and the fact that he studied lighting design at (now) University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, graduating in 2006 and heading north to a fellowship at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Liking his odds in the theater-heavy atmosphere of the District and nearby Maryland and Virginia, he stayed on, taking a job as the man in charge of the lighting equipment at the Atlas Performing Arts Center and designing, assistant designing and doing electrician work as a freelancer in a variety of theaters.

We have tried hard to see most of his work, particularly that on which he was the lead lighting designer. As such, last fall, we took in a very appealing (if you like that kind of thing) production of George Orwell's "1984," done at the Atlas by the Catalyst Theater Company, which had just moved to that location.

In Washington, the theater world has a set of awards for the region called the Helen Hayes Awards, with a localized level of prestige somewhat parallel to the Tonys at the national level. Imagine our pleasure and surprise to learn that, out of some 170 productions reviewed by Helen Hayes Award judges for the 2008 season, Andy was nominated as one of the six best lighting designs during the season for "1984" (which, he said with no bias, was pretty spectacular). And another nominee was for a show on which Andy worked as assistant. All in all, a pretty good year for our son, and we can't wait to hear how April 13th (awards night) works out!

Early 2008 Short Plays, Greensboro

I was able to fit in a visit last Thursday night to the black-box stage of the City Arts Center in Greensboro, where twice a year, short plays written by members of the Greensboro Playwrights Forum are produced. This was my third visit, and there is always something interesting going on with one or more of the plays -- the number performed varies from presentation to presentation.

This set of shows had seven scripts by six authors, and a wide-ranging group of actors, some of whom I had seen before. Dick Strohmeier, a KLT regular, was in one of the shows (and did well, I might add), and Randy Morris, who has acted and directed with KLT in addition to others, authored one of the scripts, called "Copyright." In my subjective opinion, it was one of the 3 best in the show, though one must have to be a fan of "dark" drama to like it a lot (I am, but I also know that many theatergoers are not.) It was a two-person show, and particularly well acted by the female actor.

Compared to the past two I have attended, I didn't find quite as much to like in this one, though that was more script-related than acting-related. Though there was one script I might have liked better if one of the actors had projected better and been more articulate.

Nevertheless, esp. as I am trying my hand at some short scripts myself, it was an interesting 1.75 hours in the theater, and well worth the suggested donation of $5.

Recent shows

We're firing up for another round of playgoing as I await word on a variety of play projects out there in the world, just awaiting a status report.

Recently, we took in "Virtue of Fools," presented as part of the Greensboro Fringe Festival at Open Space, and including Neil Shepherd, Ken Ashford and Cheryl Ann Roberts in the cast. We thought it was quite a mature script for a young woman recently graduated from college, and very much enjoyed the performances even if the audience was, well, compact. In discussion on the way home, we found what we considered to be some holes in the storytelling, but still, it was an interesting night of theater that held our attention. Can't say that about everything I see!

We also took in "Black Pearl Sings!" at Triad Stage Saturday night, and found that to be well-written and performed as well, taking one to a place one did not know particularly well. The point of it was: it had GOOD performances, if one stronger than the other in our opinion. Yet, the vast majority of a fairly large audience stood at the end for an ovation. See diatribe below about standing ovations.

Next on the slate: the short plays at City Stage, also part of the Fringe Festival.

On the standing ovation

I do not claim any kind of originality or claim to premiering this thought. I believe, for instance, that the New York Times has written on the subject in recent years. But having once again recently been at a show where it occurred, I am reminded of the temptation to vent some frustration.

If you are a theater-goer or attend other performing arts activities: a standing ovation is SUPPOSED to be reserved for a truly outstanding individual or group performance, particularly in the live theater. And believe me, those opportunities DO occur, and they deserve to be rewarded by a portion or the entire audience rising to their feet and clapping/cheering/dancing or whatever.

Nowadays, that doesn't happen so much. Sadly.

If EVERYONE stands up for EVERY event they attend in the theater, the whole risk/reward system of the potential standing ovation becomes so watered down that performers basically have to show up and not fall off the stage (unless the script requires it) to get the S.O. And that's just not the same. If ANYONE gets a standing ovation, how do performers know if they are truly special?

I encourage you to consider that next time you're in the theater and deciding whether or not to stand up with the rest of 'em. If it was not a truly outstanding collection of performances, don't do it. Just say no. Resist the temptation, even if you're surrounded by standers. Somehow people have to learn that standing ovations are selective, not for every single show. Really! I kid you not.

"Good LIfe" hits the road

As I mentioned in the last post, my actor friends gave "The Good Life" a great reading a week ago, and pummeled/pestered/passed along -- I'm looking for the right verb -- "shared" a number of thoughts about the play's logic and ending. I took some time to assimilate those ideas, then went after the script to see what I could do.

I'm pleased to announce that I think the rework was successful. The last two scenes have undergone a fairly major change, but, I think, for the better. And then after all the touch-ups throughout, I printed it out again, let it sit for two days, then looked it over again last night. All those facelifts have now been incorporated -- and the script is in the e-mail ozone. A good friend of ours has a place she'd like to share it, in case that arts center might want to make it part of their upcoming season. Wow. That would be something.

Anyway, it's back to her for her own review, then we'll push it on to her contact.

In short, more waiting to come!

And I do love waiting. Especially as other places I have scripts, some of which were supposed to have made their selections by now, haven't. Or perhaps they have and simply haven't told those who did NOT get selected. But they haven't posted their choices on their websites, either, durn 'em. And so, as usual ... we wait. Maybe something will surface this week!

If nothing else, another script is "done" and the Steelers won. Things could be worse.

It was a great reading!

I have to say that it is such a pleasure to bask in the post-experience bliss of having hosted, along with my lovely wife, a reading of a new script by actor friends and acquaintances. There was also a lively and informative discussion of the play itself afterwards ("The Good Life," full-length play #3) that offered some great ideas and adjustments that I will make to the script before it gets sent out.

Cheryl, Lee, Ken, Myla, Macon and Tana -- plus my live-in actor, Kathy -- you know who you are, and please know that you're appreciated. It may take me a little while to beat it into submission, but your reading and your reactions will help me to formulate some new thoughts on the fine tuning of the script and, I feel quite certain, make it a better play in the end. Thank you!

And as we are nearing the mid-point of January, I feel reasonably certain that some kind of news, pro or con, from several of the submissions are bound to break just about any time. Fingers are crossed, except, of course, when keyboarding, like right now.

I continue to think (or is it dream?) that 2009 is going to be the year when some of my words are going to spew forth on a stage, here there or somewhere. And I hope that's a good thing!

Excited about the new year

We have, fairly peacefully, slipped from 2008 -- which I think most folks won't miss -- into 2009. For Kathy and me, it included a first: attending a theatrical performance timed and specifically meant to include a welcoming of the New Year. It was apparently Open Space Cafe Theatre's second year to do so. It was a premiere production of "Miss Gulch Returns," which will return itself for a regular run at the Theatre from January 8-24. Along with a piano player, it stars Macon Shirley in a one-man musical that studies the post-"Wizard of Oz" life of the ornery Miss Gulch of the movie. Fun, cute lyrics, not the easiest music in the world to sing -- we had fun, and they simply stopped the second act for about ten minutes to ring in the year.

For me, now that we've made it to 2009, there should be some information forthcoming over the next few months about the various shows I've written and put out there, starting - hopefully - soon. Further, a group of hardy and hearty friends will be at the house on Jan. 11th to read through "The Good Life" for me. Immediately thereafter, or as soon as I can make final brush-up changes, I have a place to send it for a possible review/possible production, which even if it doesn't pan out, is exciting.

Then some fine day, I need to get back to work on the started-but-a-long-way-from-done full-length and 10-minute play ideas I have floating around. Though I have some paying non-fiction work I must get completed before much will progress on those projects!

Looking forward to a good 2009 of playgoing!